Tesco employees have resorted to using security barriers to protect themselves from shoppers eager to grab reduced yellow sticker items before they reach the shelves, as the cost-of-living crisis intensifies. Photographs show staff barricaded behind yellow barriers marked 'do not enter' while applying discount labels.
Staff at a branch in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, informed managers they did not feel safe, according to reports. The barriers are optional and used at a store's discretion to give colleagues enough space to work. Similar measures have been adopted by some Morrisons stores, where a spokesperson said the barriers were introduced during the pandemic and have continued in some locations.
Helen Dickinson of the British Retail Consortium commented: 'We have seen violence and abuse against shop workers go up during the pandemic but instead of it alleviating since then, it's getting worse.' The barriers have been used in various Tesco stores over the past few years, but their recent deployment comes amid one of the worst cost-of-living crises in decades.
The crisis has seen soaring prices for food, petrol, energy, rent, and mortgages. Tesco recently increased its meal deal from £3.50 to £3.90 for non-Clubcard holders, with Clubcard members seeing the first rise in ten years. Official inflation figures from the Office for National Statistics show that staples such as milk, butter, cheese, meat, and bread have risen by up to 42 per cent compared to last year.
Three in five Britons now struggle to keep up with bills, according to a Financial Conduct Authority survey, with nearly 8 million people finding it a 'heavy burden' to maintain payments. The cost of well-known brands has surged, with some goods costing over 30 per cent more than a year ago.
